The Pianist

The powerful and bestselling memoir that inspired the Oscar and BAFTA-winning film. 'A book so fresh and vivid, so heartbreaking, and so simply and beautifully written, that it manages to tell us the story of horrendous events as if for the first time' Daily Telegraph First published in 1946, The Pianist is the unforgettable memoir of a young Polish-Jewish pianist who survived the Second World War against all odds. This is a book that 'takes us as close as we are ever likely to travel to the day-to-day reality of living through terror' ( Sunday Times ), an indelible reminder of the horrors of war and the astonishing endurance of the human spirit. 'You can learn more about human nature from this brief account of the survival of one man throughout the war years in the devastated city of Warsaw than from several volumes of the average encyclopaedia' Independent on Sunday 'We are drawn in to share his surprise and then disbelief at the horrifying progress of events, all conveyed with an understated intimacy and dailiness that render them painfully close - riveting' Observer 'A book so fresh and vivid, so heartbreaking, and so simply and beautifully written, that it manages to tell us the story of horrendous events as if for the first time' Daily Telegraph

The powerful and bestselling memoir that inspired the Oscar and BAFTA-winning film. 'A book so fresh and vivid, so heartbreaking, and so simply and beautifully written, that it manages to tell us the story of horrendous events as if for the first time' Daily Telegraph First published in 1946, The Pianist is the unforgettable memoir of a young Polish-Jewish pianist who survived the Second World War against all odds. This is a book that 'takes us as close as we are ever likely to travel to the day-to-day reality of living through terror' ( Sunday Times ), an indelible reminder of the horrors of war and the astonishing endurance of the human spirit. 'You can learn more about human nature from this brief account of the survival of one man throughout the war years in the devastated city of Warsaw than from several volumes of the average encyclopaedia' Independent on Sunday 'We are drawn in to share his surprise and then disbelief at the horrifying progress of events, all conveyed with an understated intimacy and dailiness that render them painfully close - riveting' Observer 'A book so fresh and vivid, so heartbreaking, and so simply and beautifully written, that it manages to tell us the story of horrendous events as if for the first time' Daily Telegraph

The 75th Anniversary Edition of the memoir that inspired Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning film, with a new introduction by Szpilman's son, Andrzej On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside--so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air. Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written in the immediate aftermath of the war, The Pianist conveys a shattering immediacy found in few books about that time and stands as a stunning testament to human endurance and healing through compassion. This edition includes a foreword by Andrzej Szpilman, extracts from the diary of Wilm Hosenfeld, and an epilogue by Wolf Biermann.

The 75th Anniversary Edition of the memoir that inspired Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning film, with a new introduction by Szpilman's son, Andrzej On September 23, 1939, Wladyslaw Szpilman played Chopin's Nocturne in C-sharp minor live on the radio as shells exploded outside--so loudly that he couldn't hear his piano. It was the last live music broadcast from Warsaw: That day, a German bomb hit the station, and Polish Radio went off the air. Though he lost his entire family, Szpilman survived in hiding. In the end, his life was saved by a German officer who heard him play the same Chopin nocturne on a piano found among the rubble. Written in the immediate aftermath of the war, The Pianist conveys a shattering immediacy found in few books about that time and stands as a stunning testament to human endurance and healing through compassion. This edition includes a foreword by Andrzej Szpilman, extracts from the diary of Wilm Hosenfeld, and an epilogue by Wolf Biermann.